Before Thirty

Alternate Ending - Chapter 13 - Blake stays

GWEN

Blake glances at me over his shoulder, and he grimaces, as though whatever he's about to do is actually painful. Instead of wading away from me, he returns to my side.

"Maybe I'll..." His lips thin as though he's torn between speaking and remaining silent. "Maybe I'll stay in this pool for a bit longer."

"Yay!" I say, and I clap my hands.

His cheeks color, and he shakes his head a little.

Aww. Embarrassed Blake might be my new favorite. His weird combination of dry humor and stoic reserve makes this hint at any kind of emotion feel like a big deal.

"I appreciate the company," I say, bumping against his shoulder, though I'm pretty sure my rules would have me not saying or doing either of these things. I rest my chin on my arms again and I stare out at the mountain view. Steam rises around us into the air. "I think I could live out here forever."

"A common thought around here."

"Is it?"

"Where I'm from, we joke that once you go to Western Canada, you never come back."

"It is beautiful," I agree. "You left though, right? You don't live out here."

"I did leave." He doesn't elaborate.

His resistance to giving any details is starting to get to me, but I also understand that pushing someone like Blake probably won't breed the result I want. From what I know so far about him, it seems like he's walked away from lots of things without a backward glance, and I'm not sure what to make of that. I leave things behind all the time too, so maybe in that way we're the same.

"There are so many places I think I could live," I say. "An endless number. You can find beauty and contentment almost anywhere. At least for a little while."

"You could fall in love with it all," he says, a hint of teasing in his voice, his folded arms rest on the edge of the pool. "Or not. There's always another opportunity just around the corner."

"To be fair, falling love usually happens in a bar, on public transit, or in the workplace."

"Yeah?" he asks, his lips curving. "Those are your go-to locations? No dating apps?"

"Tried them. So many of them. That was a fun phase." I glance at him. "But I just found there were too many lies or half-truths. Either people post photos that don't quite look like them, either anymore or ever. Or the information they provide is a bit too inflated. It was fun, but none of those guys felt real. And the hunt becomes sort of addictive, I think."

Some of the guys who were as advertised couldn't seem to let the apps go. Swiping right on anything that came within two blocks. The search never ended, no matter how much fun we were having together. Blake might be teasing me for my frivolous romantic life, but I was good compared to some of the men I dated. Positively a serial monogamist. If I found a guy I liked, he was all I thought about—at least for a little while.

"What about you? How do you meet people?" I ask.

"Hookups R Us."

"Oh, my god," I say, wishing I had my phone to search it. "That's an app?"

"No," he says, "I made it up."

I flick water at him and decide he's probably not going to give me a straight answer. "I'm sure that app or something like it exists."

"I'm sure it does," Blake agrees. "Whatever you're into, you can always find someone who's into it too."

Which really makes me wonder what he's into. He's cracked the door, and I'm so tempted to throw it open, run in like a thief, and grab all the information I can before he slams it shut.